Seventh Year ON HIATUS
by shadowglove
Summary: Sequel to James Noticed/Peter Saw. AU. Sirius/Remus. SLASH. Seventh year is filled with chaos, adventure, humor, jealousy, possessives and romance as Sirius and Remus start taking those steps to acknowledging what their friends had known all along.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

_Hey! This is a Sirius x Remus story! There will be other pairings as well, some hetero and some samsex. If you don't like BOYxBOY, or Sirius x Remus---BACK AWAY WITH CAUTION!_

**Sequel to the oneshots "James Noticed" and "Peter Saw". This is in an **_**AU**_** universe, so I'm twisting and changing things happily to suit my desires! People, places, situations and relationships will be VERY different from cannon so please just know this and enjoy it! That's just how things are going to be!**

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"Come on Moony, let us see 'em!"

Remus glared at James as darkly as he could, which wasn't really intimidating considering that he was blushing scarlet. The werewolf narrowed his eyes further at the shit-eating grin the messy-haired youth gave him as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Not on your life, Potter."

"_Aw_…" James was pretending to be hurt, fist to his heart.

The werewolf shook his head.

"James, as much as I love you mate, you're weird." Peter sighed from where he sat by the fire, looking amused at the situation yet sympathetic to Remus' cause.

"But _Wormy_!" James cried, obviously shocked that his faithful supporter had turned on him at such a crucial moment. "Don't _you_ wanna see them?"

Peter raised an eyebrow, turned to Remus and surveyed him, before returning his attention to James and firmly shaking his head. "_No_."

James pouted childishly. "What sorta man _are_ you?"

"A decent one?" Peter teased.

James' grin was bright. "Then why the hell are you a Marauder?"

"To protect me, obviously." Remus growled, folding his arms over his chest, ignoring Sirius darkly. Honestly, ever since this had happened, young Master Black had refused to look him in the eye—hell, he refused to come _close_ to Remus.

That only aggravated the werewolf even _more_. It wasn't like it was _his_ fault that all of this had happened! Someone had put the potion in his morning juice (which left the question _who_ would go to all this trouble to do this to him), and before Remus had known what was happening _this_ had happened---right in front of everyone in the Great Hall!

"Aw, come on Moony, you have to admit that if this had happened to anyone else you'd be acting like me." James announced.

"I _doubt_ Remus would act like _you_ Potter." A slightly uppity voice snorted as Remus' only female friend, Lily Evans, appeared by his side, placing her hand on Remus' shoulder. All disgust was gone as she turned her attention on him, face worried. "How are you keeping up?"

Remus sighed. Lily and Peter were the only ones who seemed to understand the utter _horror_ he was going through thanks to this potion, and hadn't joked or teased or _ignored_ him because of it.

Even _Severus_ had acted weird after the transformation. Remus had gone to see the Slytherin since he was so good at Potions, to see if he could help him find an antidote. But Severus' eyes had widened, he'd flushed red, and turned tail and _ran_ _as far from Remus as physically possible._

The werewolf sighed, eyes on Lily. "Not good. Dumbledore says that this hasn't happened in a long time, and that the antidote takes longer to make than the potion itself lasts, so I'm stuck like this until it wears off."

"Poor you." Lily sighed, completely on his side, squeezing his arm slightly. "How are you going to manage until then?" Her eyes took on a nasty glare as she looked at the Marauders, whom she'd _never_ tried to pretend she didn't _despise_. "You guys could be more helpful and supportive you know. How would _you_ feel is someone did this to you?"

"Hey, I'm on _his_ side." Peter threw his hands up in the air.

"He is." Remus agreed.

Lily's glare turned into a smile at Peter.

"Oh, get _off_ of it Evans." James nearly growled. It was a well known fact that Evans hated Remus' friends and tried to keep him to herself as much as possible, and it was also a well known fact that the Marauders resented the time Remus dedicated to the redhead. "I'm _complimenting_ Remus. I mean, come _on_, he's bloody _hot_!"

A blush darkened Remus' face as he pouted and lowered his gaze, his golden hair falling into his face.

Lily narrowed her eyes at James the same time a low growl could be heard from Sirius's corner. It was so _Padfoot_ that the teens all turned in surprise towards the young man who'd been deathly silent throughout the whole day.

Sirius' eyes were narrowed and darker than usual, glaring at James. "Will you stop bloody talking about Moony like that? You're pissing me off!"

"It talks." James deadpanned, mocking the fact that Sirius had become mute ever since the transformation.

"Not now you two." Peter intervened. "Come on, we're all on edge after Remus went and turned into a hot bird---."

"A _bloody_ hot bird." James teasingly interjected.

"---without any warning." Peter continued as if James hadn't spoken. "But Remus is getting the worse of this. I mean, how many guys have hit on him since he transformed?"

"Who knows?" Remus snorted the same time Sirius growled out: "_Thirteen_."

Remus' eyes widened as he looked at the suddenly chatty Sirius. Had the older Gryffindor actually _counted_? "Um, well," he scratched behind his head nervously, looking away from the bloke who'd made him the confused teenaged werewolf he'd been for months. "I don't think they were serious anyway, I mean, I might have _these_" he motioned to the breasts he _still_ couldn't get used to. "But they all know that I'm still _me_, a _boy_."

"I don't know." Lily sounded oddly put out. "A lot of guys like you even when you're a guy."

Remus' eyes widened as he turned to the redhead. "Huh?"

Lily looked around as if expecting someone to be eavesdropping on them before leaning into Remus, whispering into his ear. "I think it's the _animal magnetism_. You're probably releasing pheromones without even realizing it."

Remus' eyes widened and his blush darkened as he turned to look at Lily in horror. The girl had found out his secret during the beginning of seventh year, and had been pissed that he hadn't told her about it before, but other than that she was fascinated with his _other self_.

Sirius growled again but Remus ignored him, eyes wide and fixed on Lily.

The redhead suddenly blushed, wringing her hands in front of her as her gaze lowered. "Um, yeah, ah, Remus? Do you need to borrow a bra or something?"

Okay, _now_ Remus preferred death than to continue on living. He hung his head low in utter humiliation and vowed to _murder_ whoever had decided that this was something he deserved as punishment for _whatever_.

Honestly, Remus couldn't think of anything horrible he'd done that deserved such a drastic and cruel punishment as this. Honestly, despite being a werewolf and incredibly strong thanks to that, Remus had to admit that physically he was kinda, um, _girly_.

He was short---one of the shortest boys in his year, and thin. Sure, there were muscles in his body, lean and deadly, but he was thinner than the others and had, embarrassingly enough, slight _curves_. His features were soft, his eyes too _gold_, and his hair was too _silky_ as it fell into his face.

How many times had a guy told him that with his chin-length golden tendrils he could pass for a girl?

And now he _was_ a girl—if only for a couple of days.

"Y-yeah." Remus forced the word out, closing his eyes so tight they _hurt_. He couldn't believe how _low_ he was being brought.

A bra.

He was going to have to wear a frickin' _bra_!

How could this get any _worse_?"

A loud wolf whistle sounded throughout the common room. "Hey Remus!" Wallace Weasley called out, grinning lecherously at him. "How about a lil---?"

Sirius was on his feet in seconds. "Finish that sentence and I'll chop off that chopstick you call a dick and _choke you to death with it_."

Remus' eyes flew open and went wide as they landed on the murderous Sirius. What exactly was going _on_ with his friend lately? Sure, they'd been always been close, and had been getting closer, especially after Peter'd helped them reconcile after the Snape Incident—but…

The werewolf didn't exactly listen to what Sirius was saying now as the dark haired Gryffindor glared at all the males in the room and began spouting out something that sounded dangerous from his tone of voice. No, Remus wasn't concentrating on the words at all, he was concentrating on the _boy_.

Recently Sirius had been acting _odd_ around him. It was one of the reasons why Remus was so _confused_. Sirius had always been protective, possessive and watchful over him, he'd always been _close_, and yet things had _changed_ over the last holiday.

The blonde had invited his friends to spend the vacations with him at his parent's countryside home for the first time, and during that period things had shifted somehow. Sirius was more, uh, _serious_, silent, and yet attentive and thoughtful and---_odd_.

It wasn't that Remus didn't like the change—he was actually quite enjoying this new closeness with Sirius—it was just that the werewolf really didn't know the reason behind _why_ the dark haired boy had changed so much.

James moved forwards and grabbed onto Sirius when the taller boy made as if to stalk towards a now cringing Wallace.

Lily glared at Wallace and the other boys who'd backed him up, for once on Sirius and James' side.

Peter sighed from where he sat, hands to his temples as if saying 'give me patience'.

"I'm going to bed." The werewolf announced, shaking his head, so _tired_ of the situation. Maybe if he went to bed he'd wake up to his own body once more.

His friends turned to look at him worried. "But it's still early!" James nearly whined. "And we're supposed to go over the list of suspects and find out who did this to you! How can we do it if the brains of our operation is snoozing his eyeballs out?"

"I see you admit to not having a brain." Lily mocked.

James glared at her. "Evans, I am _this_ close to forgetting you're a girl and hexing you."

"Remus can outdraw you _anytime_." Lily replied, both truthfully and snidely. "And he _would_ defend me."

James glared at her because he like the others knew it was true. Remus wouldn't let anyone hurt Lily Evans or Severus Snape, something that annoyed him and Sirius to no small extent.

"What are you doing here again, Evans?" Sirius wanted to know, sounding tired and wary. "Go away, fly free, leave us the _fuck_ alone."

She promptly ignored him, turning to Peter. "You're the only sensible Marauder other than Remus, if I give you the bag with, uh, Remus' _necessities_ you wouldn't go looking through it, would you?"

Peter's eyebrow raised for a second before he suddenly realized what _necessities_ Lily was referring to and going red. "Evans! Don't give that to _me_!"

She looked him over before smiling. "The fact that you blushed is just _too_ cute." She nudged Remus playfully. "Why couldn't you have picked two other guys nice like this one?"

Peter was burrowing deeper into his chair, looking horribly embarrassed with the attention now on him.

"Lily, play nice." Remus sighed, placing a hand on her shoulder and squeezing it tiredly. "I'm going up to bed now, and you're walking me to the staircase because if I leave you here with them I'll wake up tomorrow to the news that you all murdered each other."

"Remus, don't exaggerate." And yet Lily was grinning brightly at the thought as they walked towards the staircase.

Unable to do anything but chuckle at her enthusiasm, Remus shook his head and hurried up the staircase towards the room that he shared with his mates, hoping that once he opened his eyes tomorrow morning he'd be back in his male body once more.

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It wasn't easier today.

Taking in a deep breath, Sirius Black watched as Remus, or the female equivalent of Remus, stepped out of the bathroom, glaring at everyone moodily. The blonde was still wearing his male school uniform, but there were deep curves now where there'd only been tempting, subtle ones before.

"Bloody hot." James teased once more, ducking the hex the moody werewolf sent his way.

"Oi, you're going to end up in the Infirmary if you don't let up on the teasing, mate." Peter warned, grabbing his books.

Sirius had to agree with the chubby marauder. If Remus didn't hex James soon _he_ would. Sure, Sirius knew that James was just messing with Remus, but Young Master Black couldn't help but want to _throttle_ his best friend every time he said something like that to _his_ werewolf.

…Even if he _was_ bloody hot.

_Apparently, I'm Remus-sexual_. Sighing, Sirius reached for his wand and stole another glance at Remus, who was putting on the robes over his uniform and hiding his figure from his friends and the rest of the school. Sirius had wanted Remus when he'd thought he was a mere boy, had wanted him when he'd realized Remus was a werewolf, and apparently the fact that Remus was now a _girl_ hadn't changed that want one bit.

Of course, despite the fact that Moony made a _helluva girl_, Sirius kinda missed the old Remus. It was, uh, _unnerving_ to see Remus as a girl, and if Sirius had had problems warning guys away _before_, now it was physically _impossible_ to glare at all the guys checking Remus out.

Honestly, Sirius was gonna _kill_ whoever did this to the werewolf.

The disowned heir sighed as they all walked out to the common room and refrained from growling when Lily Evans caught up with them, looping her arm around Remus' as they began to talk.

Honestly, Evans and Snape were nuisances—and threats to Sirius' future plans with Moony. Both meant very much to Remus, and Sirius had to admit that he was a little insecure when it came to the werewolf's friendship with them. Those two were the only ones Remus would fight with the Marauders over, and although Sirius knew that Remus loved them he sometimes worried that Evans and Snape would get their way and separate Remus from them for good.

"Good morning Remus!" A couple of girls from Ravenclaw waved their arms enthusiastically as the group left the common room, heading towards breakfast.

Remus smiled and waved back.

"Good luck on finding the person who did that to you!" Another couple of girls cried from Hufflepuff.

"Looking hot, Lupin." Someone from Slytherin hooted.

Sirius closed his eyes and growled. Not only did he have to worry about all the houses having someone who liked Remus (who was one of the only people who believed that Slytherins were good people as well), but he had to worry about girls _and_ boys.

It'd been a shock when he'd found out about Remus' attraction to both sexes, and of course, the way he'd found out hadn't been the most ideal---the vision of Snape kissing Remus _still_ gave the Gryffindor nightmares sometimes—and while Sirius was ecstatic because that gave him a slim chance of winning his werewolf, it also meant that he had twice the competition.

Hearing a squeak as they entered the Great Hall, Sirius' gaze followed the sound and he watched as Snape's eyes widened and a blush covered his usually pallid face before he looked down at his plate of food in horror.

A smirk tilted the Gryffindor's lips.

Great, Snivellus was uncomfortable with a female Remus.

_At least ONE good thing came out of this. Maybe that damned snake will leave him alone now that he has breasts_.

Sirius paused and scrunched up his nose. Sure, he loved Remus, he wanted him in any form that he could get him, but Sirius _really_ hoped Remus would get his normal body back soon!

Movement from his blonde caused Sirius' gaze to snap up, and he frowned as he realized that Remus was making his way towards the Slytherin table.

_Don't tell me he's going to talk to the bastard!_

And yet Remus didn't make his way to Snape's side. The only Gryffindor accepted by the Slytherins leaned a hip against the table and smiled at Lucius Malfoy, laughing at something the insufferable platinum blonde announced, a mischievous expression in those silver eyes.

Sirius felt a growl rise from his chest.

Why the hell did Moony have to be friends with so many _snakes_?

"I get you, Sir." James was sighing by his side. "Moony _really_ is overcompensating with this." The messy-haired boy lowered his voice until Sirius could hardly hear him although James was whispering only to him. "I think it's the fact that he knows most of the people here wouldn't accept him if they knew his _condition_---so he tries to befriend everyone and show them that prejudice is bad."

"Hating Slytherins isn't _prejudice_, it's being _smart_." Sirius bit out, folding his arms over his chest and his lip curled in a snarl as Damien Flint and Basil Zabini joined in on the conversation, each laughing at whatever Remus answered. "Why the soddin' hell does Remus not see that?"

"Well, it's one of the things that makes him so special would be my guess." Peter piped up from Sirius' other side, surprising the taller boy because he'd remained by their side instead of hurrying to eat. "I mean, it's one of the reasons why Dumbledore was so insistent he become Head Boy this year, isn't it?"

Sirius paused, considering that. Peter had a point.

"While I still think he shouldn't have turned down the offer in favor of Frank, I'm kinda relieved he did." James announced. "We're used to staying in the same room---and he'd be staying in the head quarters with _Evans_."

The three remaining marauders paled at the thought of Remus being Head Boy to Evans' Head Girl.

Zabini stood and placed a creamy dark hand on Remus' shoulder, visibly squeezing it.

Remus smiled back at him, tilting his head slightly, golden hair falling into his face.

Sirius growled.

Peter and James took a step forwards just in case Sirius launched himself at the snake table.

Remus smiled at everyone and turned, returning to them. The golden-blonde reached the Marauder's side and Sirius reached out and grabbed the werewolf's hand, bringing him closer, glaring at the snakes.

He didn't notice Remus' wide-eyed expression or his blush as Sirius tightened his hold on his hand and caressed Moony's skin with his thumb. He was _way_ too busy glaring at Zabini.

"So, Moony, how is the pit of vipers?" James asked conversationally.

"Really you guys." Remus sighed, shaking his head slightly. "You should give them a chance you know, like the chance you gave _me_."

Sirius tore his gaze from the Slytherin table and looked at Remus, a little disturbed. "You're special, Remus. You deserve all the chances in the world. They're just pure _evil_."

Remus looked at his face for a second, a contemplative expression in those golden eyes, before he just grinned brightly, the curve of those lips causing Sirius's heart to skip a beat. "You're impossible, you know that?"

Sirius just tightened his hold on Remus' hand and smiled back. "But you still love me." He teased back.

"Someone has to." Remus responded.

"_Ouch_." Peter laughed before turning to Remus, a large grin on his face. "So, what _did_ Lucius Malfoy want with you?"

"Oh." Remus tore his gaze from Sirius' and the dark haired Gryffindor pouted slightly at the loss. "He told me that he, Damien and Basil had conducted a search in the dungeons last night and that no Slytherin was responsible for _this_." He motioned with his free hand to his body. "But they'll keep their eyes and ears open and will do their best to help me find out who did."

"Not a Slytherin?" James made a face. "You sure we can trust their word?"

"_James_…" Remus sighed tiredly.

"Come on, James." Peter interceded on Remus' behalf. "The Slytherins _like_ Remus, remember? Why would _they_ do this to him?"

"_Everyone_ likes Remus." James responded truthfully. "The only one who had any problems with Remus was that bloke from Hufflepuff---but that was because he thought Remus had made fun of him with that Hipogryff comment."

"And they settled that misunderstanding in fourth year." Peter nodded before turning to Remus. "Don't you tutor him in Muggle Studies now?"

The werewolf nodded.

Sirius looked Remus over. That was one of the reasons why Remus was so popular. Not only was he incredibly good looking and nice, but he always made time to help others in class and out of it. He had regular tutoring sessions with _countless_ students from each house and that left him with less and less time to help the Marauders with the planning of their pranks---although all of their best work usually came from him still nonetheless.

"What if it wasn't meant for Remus?" Sirius finally asked. "What if someone _else_ from our table was supposed to drink the potion and Remus did by mistake?"

"That---that could actually be a possibility." Remus tapped his bottom lip thoughtfully.

James went pale. "I always sit next to you at breakfast. What if it had been meant for _me_?" Suddenly he turned slightly green and brought his hands to his—thankfully—flat chest.

"Sirius could have been the target too." Peter pointed out helpfully. "He sits on Remus' _other_ side and all of Slytherin hates _him_."

Sirius stiffened at the thought.

Remus, James and Peter all exchanged looks before turning to Sirius. "It was probably meant for him."

Sirius groaned. "_Great_. Someone wants to see girl me? What has this world gotten to?"

"It doesn't even have to be _Slytherin_." Remus ignored Sirius' rant. "Most of the girls in the school hate him since he's broken almost all of their hearts." The golden-blonde shook his head. "Turning _him _into a girl would really be cosmic justice."

"_Hey!_" Sirius cried out, pouting. Why did Remus _always_ take the side of Sirius' ex one-night-stands?

"Ya, it _would_." Peter agreed before his eyes finally wandered towards the Gryffindor table. "Well mates, I'm gonna go get me some breakfast before class." And with that he hurried towards the food that awaited him anxiously.

James smirked as he watched Peter go, shook his head fondly, and followed after him, wedging himself between the chubby boy and Frank Longbottom.

Sirius frowned at them. "Sure, when they think Remus was attacked they didn't want to sleep trying to go over who it could have been. But when they think _I'm_ the one targeted they just don't _care_." He turned to Remus. "I feel unloved."

Remus smiled softly at him, squeezing the hand Sirius held. "Don't worry, I'll protect you from your ever-growing hate-club."

"Considering you're currently a bird, I feel very emasculated." Sirius sighed dramatically.

The werewolf grinned and tugged his hand, leading him towards the table. "Come on, I'm hungry oh drama _queen_."

Sirius only let that comment slide because Remus had laced his fingers through his.

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**How was that for a first chapter?**

**Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

_Hey! This is a Sirius x Remus story! There will be other pairings as well, some hetero and some samsex. If you don't like BOYxBOY, or Sirius x Remus---BACK AWAY WITH CAUTION!_

**This is in an **_**AU**_** universe, so that gives me so much room to work with! (grins) I am considering the sidepairings while rubbing my hands together evilly---so be warned!**

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The last couple of days had been interesting to say the least, and while Remus had slowly gotten used to using a bra (or 'weapon of mass-torture' as he liked to refer to it), and to sitting down on the toilet to pee, he was glad that this would be his last day as a girl. There was only so many 'month curses' that he could handle, so he was relieved that he'd be changing back into a boy before the _female curse_ occurred.

Throughout the whole ordeal everyone had tried to figure out if the potion had truly been meant for Remus, and after much deliberation (and seeing the support he got from his fellow students) they decided that _no_, Remus had _not_ been the desired target. More and more they were sure that _Sirius_ had in fact been the one who the potion had been made for, and that led to a whole new problem because while Remus was practically the school idol, Sirius had carelessly made a lot of enemies out of his classmates be it through broken hearts, snide comments, or thoughtless pranks.

They were congregated in the common room, sitting further from the other students, trying to come up with a list (a rather _long_ list) of all of the people who could have been smart enough to make up this potion and have it administered to Sirius' goblet that morning. Thanks to the fact that they knew almost _nothing_ about the females in the school Lily had been grudgingly invited into the meeting, and the redhead had been only too happy to tell Sirius about the countless girls who made up the Sirius Black Is An Insensitive Arsehole club.

"But I _told_ that bird that I was only with her 'cuz I was drunk!" Sirius' eyes were wide as Lily filled him in on yet _another_ member of the unofficial club, dubbed **SB-A…**as in **Sirius Black—Arsehole**.

"Well, according to what I heard her tell Gwennyth Mannors, she thought that her love could _change_ you or some manner of idiocy like that." Lily waved that off with a disgusted shake of her hand, obviously not thinking much of the Hufflepuff in question. "Of course, the only females in this whole school who haven't tried 'changing' you have been in Slytherin, but that's because you wouldn't go out with them---and they hate you for turning _traitor_ and being sorted into Gryffindor anyway so they're suspects still."

Despite the whole situation, Peter was grinning cheekily as he looked at the list of names on the _very_ long list. "Blimey Sirius, you have the whole _female student body_ after you!"

Sirius groaned, sinking further into the sofa.

"That's what you get mate, sorry to say." James announced with an unrepentant smile. "I knew this was gonna come back and bite you in the arse one of these days."

"Stuff it, ponce." Sirius growled moodily at his best mate.

"For once Potter's right." Lily looked pained to agree with the messy-haired boy. "You used to be the most desired male in the whole school, and now all the girls are warning the _first years_ about you."

"The _first years_?" Sirius winced, looking disgusted. "But they're all bloody _eleven_!"

"You obviously don't understand the _magnitude_ of the low opinion you've garnered in the female population of Hogwarts." Lily deadpanned.

Peter snickered behind the list.

"Hey Remus!" A couple of second year girls giggled as they came up to the werewolf, tearing his attention from the scene his friends were making.

"Hey Janice, Marigold." Remus smiled at the two girls. They'd asked him for some help with their transfiguration homework two weeks ago and had been greeting him eagerly ever since. "How are you two doing?"

"Great, thanks!" Marigold smiled broadly while Janice blushed and twirled a curl around her finger shyly. "We wanted to give you _this_ as a thank you for helping us." The blonde held out her hand, showing the small wrapped gift.

Blinking in surprise, Remus rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "You don't have to give me this as a thanks! I was happy to help you two!"

"_Please_ take it!" Marigold pressed, beginning to blush. "You'll hurt our feelings if you don't."

"In that case, thank you." Determined not to hurt the girls, Remus accepted the small package with a smile and placed it in the pocket of his robes to open later.

Both girls grinned before hurrying away giggling to themselves.

"They're _jailbait _mate." Sirius' voice was lower than usual.

Remus turned to look at his friend in curiosity before he understood the insinuation and made a face at him. "_Really_ Sirius. As if I'd look at _second year_ girls like that."

Sirius looked away, moody once more.

Merlin, Padfoot had been having so many mood-swings lately that it was hard to remember that _he_ wasn't the one who'd been turned into a girl!

"Evans, help me with this if you can." James announced, turning to the redhead. "I never understood how Remus got so popular with the girls. I mean, I understand he's a great chap, but for the first couple of years the girls ignored him. Why all of a sudden these last three years he has suddenly become a male icon of sexuality and desire?"

Remus glared at James, blushing scarlet. "I am no such thing!"

Lily raised an eyebrow at her blushing friend before turning to James. "Well, he's handsome, you have to admit it, and there's something about Remus that just attracts our attention. Plus, Black actually helped a lot with Remus' popularity."

Peter looked up from the list he'd been absentmindedly scribbling on. "I noticed that myself."

Lily looked at Peter in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah." The slightly overweight boy nodded, continuing to scribble doodles on the parchment. "At first it was the same attention James and me got, you know, the _oh he's friends with gorgeous Sirius Black_ attention. And then, Remus---being the big softie that he is---listened to and comforted all of the crying girls whose hearts Sirius broke, and they started liking _him_."

Lily blinked, in shock. "I thought I was the only one who'd noticed that."

"Nah, I did too. It's easy to see things when people ignore you and forget you're there." And yet Peter said this with a large and genuine grin on his face.

Lily paused, head tilted slightly as she eyed the auburn-haired boy thoughtfully.

"Are you telling me that every girl I broke up with ran to _Remus_ to be comforted?" Sirius gaped, shocked. And then he glared. "How exactly did he _comfort_ them anyway?"

Remus sighed, rolling his eyes. If there was one thing he knew for certain about Padfoot it was that the boy was ridiculously possessive of what he considered _his_, so it was obvious that once this news got out he'd be jealous about what Remus had done with _his_ ex girlfriends. That was the reason why Remus hadn't told him about it in the first place!

Honestly, as _if_ Remus would touch someone who'd belonged to Sirius---even if only for a night.

The thought made him sick at his stomach.

"Hey Remus!"

Looking up, Remus shook his head of the thoughts that'd been bothering him and smiled at the first year. "Yeah?"

"Some Slytherin is at the portrait, says he wants to speak to you?"

Lily straightened. "You think it's Severus? He's been acting odd lately."

"I'll go check." Getting up, Remus left Lily with the Marauders (praying to all holy that no one would be murdered before he got back), and left through the portrait, blinking when he saw Lucius leaning against the wall, sneering at the way the Fat Lady openly ogled him. "Hey, I didn't know you knew where the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room was."

"I'm a _Malfoy_, Lupin, I know _everything_." Lucius's sneer turned amused as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Like whose fault it is that you're prettier than all the girls in this institution."

Remus fought between a blush and curiosity, and finally the latter won, his eyes widening slightly as he pulled a strand of golden hair out of his face and behind his ear. "Really? You know who did this?"

"Believe it or not, it was Snape." Lucius shook his head, scowling. "Apparently the potion was intended for Black, but since Black stole _your_ goblet that morning you drank _his_ and this whole mess happened. We wondered why Snape was avoiding you like the plague since it happened, and we finally got the truth out of him tonight in the commons. It was guilt, pure and simple."

Remus paused, a little worried for his friend's health. While he wasn't prejudiced against Slytherins he knew that their methods could be a bit _unorthodox._ "How exactly did you get him to admit all of this?"

Lucius sneer transformed into a smirk as if reading Remus' thought and amused by them. "Veritaserum. We used it on all of our underclassmen just to make sure they were telling us the truth, and Snape caved in easily while under the influence."

Remus wanted to scowl at the Slytherin, wanted to tell him how it was illegal for them to have the truth-telling potion, and yet he couldn't help but return the blonde's smirk. "You're all incorrigible."

Lucius just smirked.

"How do you know one of the younger ones won't tattle to Slughorn?" Remus wanted to know, curious.

"Even if they _did_, he'd only commend us for being able to brew it during the next Slug meeting of his." Lucius shrugged, obviously not caring much for his House Head.

Remus sighed, shaking his head at the truthfulness in those words. Slughorn really shouldn't be head of _anything_. The man had _zero_ backbone and less authority over the students. If he should have been head of _anything_ the best option would have been _Hufflepuff_, and yet somehow he'd ended up the head of _Slytherin_.

"So, how long you got left?" Lucius asked.

"A couple of hours." Remus sighed, thankful. This was going to be one of those things he repressed and never thought of again. "I should be all normal by tomorrow."

"Pity." Lucius announced emotionlessly as he pushed away from the wall and began to stride away.

Remus blinked in surprise, a little confused at the comment before he shook his head and returned to the Common Room to find that James had gone to chat up a pretty sixth year named Alice, Lily and Peter were surprisingly enough in a deep conversation, and Sirius was no where to be found.

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The moment James noticed that Remus had returned, he excused himself from Alice---who was proving to be _way_ too shy for his taste despite how pretty she was---and headed towards the werewolf, clapping a hand on his shoulder to catch his attention.

"Who was it Moony?" The messy-haired youth wanted to know, a little worried. The whole group had tried to be silent, waiting for Remus to come back, but Sirius had gotten up and stormed to their room, and James hadn't been able to stand Evans' sighs of impatience so he'd gotten up and decided to talk to Alice, leaving Peter with the redheaded annoyance.

But now that Moony was back James turned all of his attention on him.

Remus hesitated for a moment before answering. "It was Lucius---he and the others found out who did this."

James' eyes widened, and for once he didn't make any comments about Remus' being close enough friends with the snakes to call them by their first names. "Really? Who?" Inwardly he felt a little peeved that the snakes had been able to solve this when _they_ had been unable to.

"Severus." Remus looked more amused than anything else as he said this. "Apparently it _was_ meant for Sirius, but since Siri stole _my_ juice that morning---."

"_Oh_." James was stuck. On one hand he wanted to be pissed off and offended that Snivellus had thought to do such a thing to _his_ best mate---and yet a little _TINY_ piece of him was impressed with the prank in itself. Even if it _had_ backfired, it was _still_ an impressive idea to get back at Sirius for turning his hair curly and pink the day they'd all started their Seventh Year.

"Where's Sirius?" Remus asked, looking around the common room.

A smile threatened James' lips as he watched golden eyes search for his best mate. Ever since their last vacation he'd known that things were slowly turning for the better between his friends, and he couldn't help but believe that this year would find Remus Lupin finally realizing what was going on and giving into a rather desperate Sirius Black.

_And Pete and me will get to brag and say how we saw it before those two did_. He finally grinned, remembering how he and Peter had admitted to each other that they knew about the feelings between their other friends. Their shared knowledge of what the future would _definitely_ bring had forged a closer relationship between James and Peter, who felt like co-conspirators at this _Sirmus Watching Game_ they played.

"He went up to the room," James announced, letting go of his hold on the werewolf's shoulder. "Looked a little down. Why don't you go and check up on him? I'll rescue Wormy from Evans and let them know the mystery was solved."

"Thanks." Remus smiled and turned to go towards the stairs when suddenly he gasped and those golden eyes flashed silver for a second and his knees buckled.

James surged forwards and grabbed Remus by the waist, holding him from behind, feeling the werewolf's unsteady, rapid gasps. "Rem?" He whispered, worried as Remus' body began to shake and the smaller boy—still in girl body—whimpered in pain.

"_Help me_." Remus pleaded, voice soft and hurt. "Don't—want—attention on—me."

Understanding, James was glad that no one had noticed what'd happened as he moved Remus to a corner and held him until the werewolf was able to stand on his own feet even if he _was_ leaning hard against the wall for support. "Remmy?" The messy-haired boy whispered, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"I'm---_fine_." Remus breathed out, eyes closed tightly, head tilted backwards, face towards the ceiling, still breathing erratically. "It'll---_pass_."

That was the moment James realized that this wasn't the first time this had happened to Remus. Anger at not having been told, and fear for what this could mean, battled for dominance and yet another stronger emotion, protectiveness, entered the battle and won the war. "What's going on, Rem?"

The shaking slowly subsided to nothing, and Remus took in a deep breath before lowering his head so that he was facing James, opening his eyes.

James gasped as he saw that Remus' eyes were silver bleeding back into his natural _gold_. "Rem---your _eyes_---they're _silver_!" He hissed in shock.

Remus sighed and lowered his gaze to his feet as his eyes slowly returned completely to their golden color. "Before you ask me again, Jamie, I _don't know_."

James frowned, concern growing. "How long as this been happening?"

"A couple of weeks." Remus admitted. "You're—you're the only one who knows. At first I thought I was just fatigued from studying too much, but it's happening more and more recently now, and its been stronger now that I got this potion inside of me."

His worry was growing. "You think that an ingredient in the potion might have made this thing stronger?"

Remus nodded, silent.

"Dammit Rem!" James ran frustrated fingers through his hair. "You should have told us something!"

"I didn't want you to worry."

And that was the problem. Remus was always trying to protect them when he was the one who needed the protecting.

Sighing James couldn't find the anger to be mad at his shamefaced friend. "What exactly happens when this, uh, _happens_?"

"I—I'm not completely sure." Remus responded softly. "It's like all of my senses go on overload all at once and its so overwhelming I just want to pass out and _die_. And there's this hunger, this _need_---."

James' gaze narrowed. "This has something to do with Moony."

Remus nodded. "But this has never happened before, why all of a sudden---?"

"I'm not sure, but we're going to have to start reading up on, uh, your _relatives_ again. I know you don't like it when we do, but it's going to be necessary if we're to know what in the world is going on with you."

Remus winced. "_James_---."

"Don't even start it." James shook his head and cut his friend off. "Now I want you to go up and talk to Sirius about this, he'll be a cranky, insufferable bastard if he hears it from anyone else. _I_ am going to talk to Evans, if there's anyone other than you who's a bookworm it'll be _her_, **and** she's been studying diligently up on your _family_ since she found out."

Remus was silent, looking at his shoes. "I don't want to be more of a bother for you guys. This--."

"Say one more idiotic word and I'll break your nose." James threatened.

Remus chuckled slightly and looked up at the messy-haired boy. "Thanks James."

James smiled back. "Think nothing of it, Moony. Now go talk to Sirius and get him out of that mood of his?"

Remus nodded and silently went towards the stairs.

James watched him go with a worried expression before turning towards where Peter and the insufferable Evans were still deep in conversation. The leader of the Marauders winced at the thought of having to spend time with the redhead, and _voluntarily_ at that.

He sighed in defeat.

_The things I do for my mates._

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He knew he was turning into a moody bastard and it bothered him.

Sitting on his bed, Sirius hugged his pillow to his chest and told himself that _Sirius Orion Black_ wasn't supposed to be a jealous, insecure person. No, he had always been confident and full of himself, but whenever it came to Moony Sirius felt so foolish and useless and insecure.

Why _shouldn't_ Remus be friendly with all those people? Why _shouldn't_ he make friends with those around him? Why _should_ Sirius see everyone Remus smiled at or paid attention to as rivals?

It wasn't healthy!

And yet no matter how many times he told himself this, Sirius couldn't change. Remus was the one person in this world Sirius knew he couldn't live without. Ever since the first time he'd laid eyes on Remus on the train to Hogwarts he'd known instinctively that he had to get close to that person, had to be his friend, his confident, his most important person.

At the time he hadn't exactly understood _why_ he felt that way, or why he was so possessive of the other boy—why he _hated_ the few girls Remus had gone out with, but now he did, and it only made his jealousy and possessiveness _grow_.

Why couldn't he stop?

And why did Remus let him do these things without even complaining? Why did the werewolf _let_ Sirius be possessive and jealous and act as if he _owned_ him?

The door opened and the one person who tormented him so appeared, looking a little pale but no less handsome---er---_beautiful_, considering that Remus was still a girl.

_That stupid potion better wear off soon!_

Sirius was sick of the female version of Remus, the one that he could hardly recognize. He wanted _his_ Remus back the way he originally was and he wanted him back _now_.

"Um, Sirius?" That feminine voice that _wasn't_ Remus' normally soft one spoke, and it irritated Sirius to no small degree.

"Let's go flying." He's spoken and gotten off of his bed before he could ever process what it was he was thinking.

"Huh?" Remus asked, looking confused, and rightly so. "You know I don't like flying."

Ignoring him, Sirius grabbed his broom and his friend's hand, dragging the golden-blonde towards the window before mounting his broom and waiting for the werewolf to do the same.

Moony looked paler, a little nervous, and completely unsure about this. "_Padfoot_---."

"Trust me, Rem." Sirius managed a smile somehow. "I know Moony is an earthbound animal and doesn't feel safe in the air, but he trusts Padfoot, doesn't he?"

Remus hesitated, golden gaze darting from the broom, to Sirius and back. "Y-yeah, h-he d-d-d-does---but I've _seen_ you flying."

Sirius frowned, not liking the implication that Moony didn't trust him completely. He wouldn't do anything _cocky_ or reckless while Remus was with him, why didn't the werewolf ever trust him when he said that and avoided this like the plague?

The Padfoot that eternally lived inside of Sirius growled like he always did whenever Moony displeased him during the full moons, the sound emerging his lips.

Remus' eyes flashed a brighter golden, that nearly _glowing_ color they were during the full moon, as the Moony within recognized the Alpha's displeasure with him. A corresponding whimper escaped Remus' lips as the wolf looked away for a second before slowly climbing onto the back of Sirius' broom, his arms going around Sirius' waist tightly, his face pressed into Sirius' back in obvious fear.

For a moment guilt assailed Sirius, but then Moony's scent enclosed him and he closed his eyes, sniffing the scent with a content purr.

"Where are we going?" Remus' voice was squeaky and slightly muffled by the material of Sirius' robes.

"You'll see." And with a kick they were off, soaring into the sky, Remus plastering himself as tightly against Sirius as he could with a terrified squeak, and Sirius laughing softly to himself, savoring the feel of Remus against him, even if it _was_ a female body.

Flying above the castle, Sirius searched for that hidden place he'd discovered while flying one sleepless night and smiled when he finally did. Lowering he landed on the hidden, flat section of the roof.

"We're here."

Remus froze before slowly tearing his face from the back of Sirius' robes and looking around. "Wow."

Sirius grinned brightly as the werewolf dismounted the broom onto the roof and looked around. "You like?"

"_Yeah_." Awe etched in that word, Remus looked around at the marvelous view of the land all around Hogwarts. "This is _amazing_."

Dismounted and broom in hand, Sirius smiled, happy to see the fascination on Moony's face. "This is the only completely flat part of the roof, and I hexed the edges so there's an invisible barrier. You couldn't fall off even if you wanted to."

Visibly calming completely, Remus' grin brightened as he walked to the edge of the roof and got a better view of the lake illuminated by the light of the moon. "It looks like a millions diamonds sparkling."

Merlin, only _Remus_ could say something like that and not sound lame.

Sirius smiled tenderly.

"Thanks for bringing me out here." Remus turned and smiled brightly at Sirius before sitting down and looking out at the beautiful scenery below. "This is beautiful."

"I come here sometimes when I can't sleep—or need to think." Sirius admitted, sitting down next to Remus, so close he could feel the body heat the wolf emitted. "It's so very _peaceful_."

"I can see that." Remus smiled, eyes on the lake as the water rippled when the Giant Squid stuck one tentacle out and swatted at something the others couldn't see.

Silence fell on the boys as they just sat together and watched the scenery, and yet Sirius was happier than he'd been since they'd returned from Remus' home to Hogwarts.

A contented sigh came from the werewolf as he surprised Sirius by leaning towards him and resting his head on the dark-haired Gryffindor's shoulder.

A blush covered Sirius' cheeks immediately.

_Merlin_, Moony smelt _so good_!

Taking in a deep breath, Sirius closed his eyes tightly before placing his arm around Remus' shoulders, pulling him closer. Despite the fact that he'd done this countless times before somehow it seemed _different_ tonight, and he couldn't help but _hate_ himself for blushing as red as he knew he was.

Moony didn't seem to mind or even notice, he just snuggled in closer to Sirius' heat and sighed in contentment once more.

And then Moony was _glowing_, like the only light in the night, and in seconds it was gone and Sirius knew he was holding _his_ Moony once more. The potion had worn off.

_Finally_.

Remus lifted his hand, observing it before smiling and turning in Sirius' hold, face raised to look into that of his friend. "I'm back to normal."

Sirius felt his breath stick his in throat as Remus, _his Remus_, smiled up at him, eyes shinning in the darkness, face so _close_ to his.

Padfoot wanted to kiss his Moony.

He wanted to---to--.

Remus grinned brighter before turning his face away and resting his cheek against Sirius' chest with a contented smile. "I'm happy to be back."

"I—I am too." Sirius did his best to keep the disappointment out of his suddenly thick voice. "You might have been bloody hot as a girl, Remus, but I prefer you just the way you are."

Remus chuckled softly. "Me too." His arms went around Sirius' waist and he hugged him slightly, leaning further into him. "Thanks for looking after me and making sure no one took advantage while I was like that. You always look after me, but still, thanks. You—you mean a lot to me, Sirius Black."

And suddenly the kiss he hadn't been able to experience didn't really matter to Sirius. Remus was here, with him, in his _arms_.

Nothing else mattered.

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**I actually hadn't planned to write this chapter like this but Raia inspired me at the last minute and it came out with this quasi fluff. Hope you all like it and REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

_Wanna thank __**moonfoot13, Stephycats7785, Lady Annikaa, foreverforgetful, Inky74, Miss Music666, Evildevilangel, The Queen of Confusion, Lyrical Rex, RyuuHime-x, xrosiex, rekahneko, **__and__** harryhermionere**__ for reviewing the last chapter!_

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_The wolf howled in the dark of the woods, head tilted back, the moonlight falling upon its pelt in an oddly warm way. Golden eyes opened and surveyed his territory, sharp ears picking up the yelps and grunts of the other wolves the woods housed, all in their own little parts, not daring to enter his._

_Slowly making rounds of his territory, paws against the damp ground, golden eyes kept vigilant, ready to defend his piece of woods against any male intruder. Moments like these loneliness sometimes set in, leaving him slightly distracted as he considered a pack of his own._

_While werewolves in themselves were usually alone due to the fact that they knew few others like themselves they were wolves in essence, and the greatest desire of a wolf was to mate and form a pack of its own._

_How many of them never got to have their desire sated?_

_Huffing slightly, annoyed and frustrated, the wolf shook his head as he continued its rounds, making sure that his scent was still strong on his boundaries._

_Now was not the time to be distracted._

_A low growl caught his attention, and the wolf froze, turning towards the sound, not able to see the one who'd emitted that sound. Scent drafted towards him on the ongoing breeze. It was canine, definitely._

_A growl reverberated through his body as he stood ready as glowing eyes of blue suddenly shone in the shadows in front of him._

Gasping, Remus's eyes flew open and he took in a deep breath of air. A trickle of sweat dribbled down the side of his face, and the young werewolf tried to breathe in slowly to slow down his rapidly beating heart. Ever since that summer he'd been having these dreams, as well as the attacks of _whatever_ it was, and it was slowly driving him insane.

Still, it was the first time that he'd come across another creature in his dreams.

He was so distracted that it took the golden-blonde a couple of minutes to realize that he was not in bed, nor was he alone. For a split-second panic jolted through his body as he realized that he was half-laying on top of another body, the stranger's arm around him his waist possessively.

And then the scent of the one below him reached his nostrils, and the Moony within calmed immediately, recognizing the scent of Padfoot.

A dark blush covered Remus' cheeks as he realized that sometime during the night they must have fallen asleep while on the roof. Both were lying on the roof, Remus with his cheek against Sirius' soothing heartbeat, arm wrapped around the taller boy's chest. Sirius had one arm behind his head like a pillow and the other was around Remus, tight and protective even in sleep.

Sometime during the night the older boy must have transfigured his broom into a blanket, because their transport had vanished and they were wrapped in the warmest, softest blanket Remus had ever felt.

_He's always looking after me, isn't he?_

Pulling away slightly from his best mate, Remus looked up at the sky—realized that dawn was right upon them—and then returned his attention to Sirius. When asleep the other boy looked so peaceful, so innocent, so _handsome_.

Remus wanted to look away, wanted to feel guilty for the feelings he was having for his best mate, but lately it'd been harder and harder to look away from Sirius, to pull his hand from his, to try and keep his feelings completely _friendly_ when it came to him.

There was no way that Remus would risk their friendship by even _considering_ having romantic feelings for him, and yet lately he just couldn't keep them in check as easily as he had for so long, and that worried him.

It wasn't only he who was attracted to Sirius, _Moony_ was _submissive_ with Padfoot, giving the other unknowing canine _dominance_. The large dog obviously didn't understand what it'd meant for the wolf to let himself be pinned to the ground and bar his neck.

Padfoot didn't realize what that surrender meant, what it meant for a wolf to submit to another male so easily, so passively, so _eagerly_.

Remus hung his head in shame, knowing that a blush was darkening his skin. He honestly didn't understand _how_ Sirius or Padfoot didn't _see_ it considering how much of a _hussy_ Moony was acting during the full moons. How could the dog be so _oblivious_ as to not get _why_ the wolf was more physical, _why_ he allowed himself to be pinned under him time and time during their games without fight?

Then again, it was probably better that Sirius was oblivious to the way the wolf behaved. That way Remus could continue keeping his romantic interest in his mate as far in the back of his mind as possible.

_Not that you're making it easy for me, Pad_.

Sighing, Remus allowed his gaze to wander over his best mate's face.

With the way he'd been behaving recently Sirius had been unknowingly _encouraging_ both Remus and Moony, and trying to restrain the wolf within and its desires and orders was wearing Remus down.

Sirius' scent drafted towards Remus once more, causing the werewolf to moan at how _delicious_ it was.

_And, of course, there's his __**scent**__._

Sirius had _always_ smelt particularly good for Remus, it was one of the reasons (other than Sirius' pushy, inquisitive nature) that'd made him somewhat hesitant to accept the friendship offered (and demanded in return), but as the years went by Sirius' scent only got _better_. It was male, and canine and just _reeked_ of _dominance_.

Probably one of the strongest reasons why Moony had accepted Padfoot so easily as his Alpha was because _Remus_ had subconsciously accepted Sirius as _his_. While James might be the unofficial leader of their human group, Sirius was _his_ leader, had _always_ been his leader, and Remus was beginning to believe Sirius always _would_ be.

Movement at the edge of the Forbidden Forrest caused Remus' attention to turn to there, and his eyes narrowed when he saw a dark figure standing between the trees. The person was completely covered in a dark cloak, gender unrecognizable---and yet the scent---the _scent_ that Remus could somehow catch from way on top of Hogwarts was _good_, and strangely enough, somewhat _recognizable_.

_**Own.**_

Remus narrowed his eyes as he listened to Moony's grunts as the wolf became surprisingly restless at the scent.

_**Find**_**.**

As _if_ he was going to go into the Forbidden Forest by _himself_ to find this mysterious person. What was the person doing in the Forbidden Forest anyway? It wasn't safe!

_**Answer call!**_

_No_! Remus fought Moony, knowing that the wolf within wouldn't be happy with him but not caring. _That could be that Dark Lord everyone's talking about for all I know!_

A wizard who called himself _Voldemort_ of all things had risen drastically fast, and was making a name of himself as the next _Dark Lord_. Obviously he thought himself to be the next Gellert Grindelwald, and sadly enough others thought so too rallying to his cause rapidly, wanting to rid the wizarding world of all the muggleborns.

Oddly enough while he seemed to hate all muggleborns, Voldemort had no problem with allying himself with many vampiric clans and the rare werewolf packs that existed. The vampires he offered easy pickings of the traitors once his self-proclaimed _cleansing_ ended, and the werewolves he promised the ability to control themselves while in their wolf forms.

It was obviously a tempting offer, but Remus doubted that there was anything that could help the wolves keep control over their bodies while in their wolf forms, and even if there _were_ such a thing he didn't think that it was worth all the evil he read Voldemort and his Death Eaters did.

_**Too late.**_

Shook out of his thoughts by Moony's growl, Remus' gaze returned to the figure only to find it gone.

"_Rem_?" Sirius' sleepy voice was deeper than usual.

Remus turned to his friend and smiled as Sirius yawned, stretching quite canine-like. "We fell asleep."

"Correction, _you_ fell asleep." Smacking his lips, Sirius ran lean fingers through messy dark hair. "_I_ just didn't want to wake you." His gaze turned worried. "You haven't been sleeping well at nights, Rem, and I just didn't want to wake you up when I realized that it was probably the best night's sleep you'd had in a while."

Sighing, the werewolf looked down at lake, watching the way the colors of the dawn played upon the water. "You're always taking care of me Sirius. What am I going to do when we graduate, huh?"

"I don't see what the big problem is." Sirius yawned. "It's not like just because we're graduating we're not going to see each other again. I mean, I'm not letting something like _that_ keep us all apart. We're family."

A smile curved Remus' lips. "Yeah, we are, aren't we?"

"Of course we are." Sirius's voice was at his shoulder, resting his chin on it with a whine. "Are you _sure_ you don't want to study to be an auror like James and me?"

"I'm _sure_." Remus shook his head at the thought. Dumbledore had risked his position as Headmaster by letting in a werewolf into his school (even if no one knew that Remus was a werewolf).

Werewolves were looked down on everyone as animals who didn't _need_ an education, as _monsters_, and Fenrir Greyback (the werewolf who'd sired Remus and was now Voldemort's right hand man) wasn't doing anything to help change the way people saw them. Remus wasn't going to put Dumbledore into trouble by risking his secret being found out by _Aurors_ of all people.

"But even _Pete's_ gonna try for _Auror_." Sirius pressed, obviously not getting _why_ Remus wouldn't take the Auror Entrance exams despite the fact that he was the best of the Marauders when it came to DADA.

"Siri, _please_, just let it go." Remus begged, closing his eyes tightly against the tug in his gut. It was a feeling of disappointment a reminder that while Dumbledore _had_ given him a break he was _not_ like everyone else. He _was_ a monster three nights a month, and he needed to remember that.

He should be grateful for what he'd been given, _not_ resentful for what he wouldn't.

"Okay, okay." Sirius sighed. "Since you won't talk to me about that, you mind telling me what's been bothering you lately? _Why_ you haven't been able to sleep well? And don't tell me not to worry because I do and always will so just get over it."

How could Sirius make him smile even when he felt so confused and sad?

_**Ours. **_The wolf grunted.

_Shut up._ Remus was getting sick of arguing this point with the animal. Sirius was _not_ theirs nor were they his!

_**His**__._

_ENOUGH!_

"Moony?"

Jumping, Remus felt silly for forgetting Sirius while having his inner argument with Moony. "Uh, sorry, I was thinking." He watched as the Giant Squid surfaced, greeting the morning rays happily. "It must have been horribly noticeable for you _and_ James to notice it."

Sirius tensed slightly. "James?" He pulled away and surprised Remus by grabbing his chin and forcing him to turn in a slightly painful way to look him in narrowed eyes. "_James_ knows what's going on?"

"Yes, James knows." Remus was confused, not exactly seeing what the problem was. "He said that I should tell you. That's one of the reasons why I came up to the room last night but you distracted me and I forgot."

"You _told_ him." Sirius let got of Remus' chin and glared at him. "So you told _James_ but it never crossed your mind to tell me until _he_ told you to?"

Suddenly the werewolf saw what the problem was.

"_I_ was losing _my_ sleep listening to you toss and turn every soddin' night and you told _James_?"

Remus hung his head, trying to fight the grin, trying to fight the _laughter_ bubbling up in his chest at the pout obvious on Sirius's face. "I didn't choose him over you, Padfoot, I just had an attack in front of him and he found out that way."

For a moment Sirius looked appeased, and then worry darkened his eyes. "Attack? What sort of attack?"

So Remus told him about the dreams that'd been keeping him awake and about the _episodes_ of his senses overwhelming him—and of his eyes changing color for no good reason.

"Blimey Rem, you should have _told_ us something before now." Sirius finally whispered when everything that needed to be said was said.

Shrugging, the blonde tore his golden gaze from Sirius and back towards the Forbidden Forest. "We should be heading back, the others must be worried about us."

Sirius was silent for a moment before sighing and standing, transfiguring their blanket back into his broom, Remus missing its warmth instantly. "Come on, let's go."

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James Potter was going mad.

"Isn't it _amazing_?" Evans asked Peter, who was nodding and scribbling down information onto the parchment they were sharing between them. Honestly, those two had gotten on together scarily well. James had nearly expected Evans to shout or hit Peter more than once when the boy proved how oblivious and slightly stupid he could be during their all-nighter in the library, but Evans had only smiled at Peter and explained things as many times as needed until he'd understood.

"Who would have thought?" Peter asked, looking freakily interested in the subject that made James somewhat uncomfortable.

Evans grinned. "At least we know have a good idea as to _why_ Remus is like that." She frowned lsightly. "I just wish that he'd told me before, I'd have found the answer and he wouldn't have had to worry so long."

James sighed. Evans was annoying, more annoying than he'd previously thought, and the fact that she was rubbing in _constantly_ that _she_ was the one who'd figured out the problem only served to annoy James further.

_Plus_ Wormy was hanging onto Evans' every word as if she was _Merlin_ or something! She was _obviously_ using some kind of mind control or something with him!

James nodded to himself, sure that that was the answer.

It was the only thing that explained _why_ Remus and now _Peter_ acted the way they did around the annoying redhead.

"I wonder how Sirius is going to take this when he hears about it." Peter announced, speaking mostly to himself.

Evans raised an eyebrow. "_Black_? I wonder how _Remus_ is going to take it! It's not _every_ day that you get told by your friends that you're in _heat_ you know. Especially not if you're a _boy_!"

James blushed for the fifteenth hundred time since Evans had come upon the answer to Remus' situation.

_This is going to be a long LONG day_.

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**Ha! (laughs) I'm evil to Remus, I know!**

**Review?**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

_Wanna thank __**TheyCallMeCyclone, VampiressBlack, Stephycats7785, moonfoot13, xrosiex, The Queen of Confusion, Miss Di, Miss Music666, Lady Annikaa, fictitiousshore, Inky74, harryhermionerw, **__and __**reviewgrl **__for reviewing the last chapter!_

Just reminding everyone that this is going to be a VERY AU story, so a LOT of the things that happened in cannon will NOT be happening in this story.

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"_HEAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!"_ Sirius _knew_ somewhere in the back of his mind that he _might_ have said that a _little_ too loud, but thankfully they were all alone in the Library at that ungodly hour of the morning. Even young yet strict Madam _Pince_ had yet to arrive.

"Will you shut your _trap_, Black?" Evans hissed, looking around as if expecting other students to be stupid enough to be awake at this hour and in the _library_ of all places. "I'm _sure_ Remus doesn't want to _whole_ school knowing!"

"But---how is this _possible_?" Remus asked, collapsing in the seat next to Evans, face pale and horrified. "I can't be in _heat_! I'm not a bloody _girl_!"

"Well, technically, you _were_ a girl for a couple of days." James' voice was muffled from where he was leaning tiredly with his forehead against the table, looking _exhausted_. Then again, he'd just pulled his first all-nighter _studying_, so Sirius really couldn't blame him.

"But these symptoms started happening _before_ that." Remus argued weakly.

Peter blushed for some odd reason, exchanging looks with a suddenly nervous looking Evans.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at them. "What? What do you two know?"

James groaned from where he was _still_ half-asleep on the table. "Its too bloody early in the morning for this."

Remus froze, suspicion written on his every feature. "Too early for _what_?"

Peter suddenly found the parchment in his hand to be the most interesting thing _ever_.

James refused to speak or lift his forehead from the surface of the table.

Evans glared at them, muttered something like 'cowards' under her breath, and then took in a deep breath and turned to Remus, placing a careful hand on his shoulder. "Remus, you know that I'm not one for beating around the bush so I'm going to be frank with you, okay?"

Remus nodded silently.

James and Peter peeked glances at the werewolf.

Sirius' stomach collapsed slightly in nerves.

"You're a _beta_." Evans announced as if that should make some sense.

Sirius was about to laugh and say that that made no sense when all of a sudden he saw the horror on the werewolf's face. "Rem?" He was worried immediately. "What's wrong? What does that mean?"

"I—I am _not_—but…" Remus stood up from the table, pale and yet blushing all at the same time, looking a little frantic. "I mean, I, _both_!"

Sirius wondered if anyone had understood that.

Peter and James shared a look.

Evans sighed and stood up, placing her hand on Remus' shoulder as well. "I know, and that's one of the reasons this is happening to you."

Sirius glared. Apparently _he_ was the only one who hadn't understood.

"But—but---_beta_?" Remus squeaked, running shaky hands through his hair. "Is that a rule? Couldn't I change that? _Why_ a _beta_?"

Now the dark-haired Gryffindor was starting to get seriously worried. What was a beta and what was so wrong with being one?

"Well, I guess if you found a bitch," Evans announced smoothly, ignoring the shocked expressions on the Marauder's faces for hearing that word come out of 'perfect Evans's mouth. "_Or_ if you found someone more _beta_ than you are."

Remus' face went pinch-white. "I am _not_ a _beta_!"

"Remus, only _bitches and betas_ go into heat." Evans spoke soothingly, not at all shocked by Remus raising his voice at her.

At that all the anger escaped Remus and he collapsed back into his seat, face in his hands. "How utterly _humiliating_."

"Will someone explain what a beta is to me?" Sirius finally asked in a hard voice, sick of being the only one in the dark about this whole situation.

Remus could be heard whimpering, the sound only slightly muffled by the hands covering his face.

Evans ignored Sirius' question, her attention on Remus as she rubbed his back soothingly.

Peter blushed scarlet and tried to answer but he kept stuttering and instead sent James (who'd been watching him with an amused expression) a beseeching look.

James grinned teasingly at Peter before sighing and finally sitting up properly in his seat, turning to look at Sirius. "Okay mate, I'm going to say this once so listen well. A _beta_ is what we would consider a _submissive_. So instead of the wolf looking for someone to _mate_, it's looking for someone to mate _him_."

Sirius was silent for a moment, trying to get the difference, and then it hit him like a quaffle to his head. Going red instantly it took all his Black-ness to keep from burying his scarlet face in his hands like Remus was doing at this moment. "_Oh_."

"What I don't get is _why_ Rem's gone into heat in the _first place_." James announced, turning to look at Peter. "I mean, he's seventeen, isn't that a little _early_ to look for the wolf to be looking for its lifemate?"

_Right_, Sirius thought, blue gaze on the table. _Werewolves mate for life._

Peter sent a look in Evans' direction (which surprised and confused Siirus) before looking back at James with a contemplative expression. "Well, from what I read last night, apparently wolves mature sooner than humans do---and Rem must be in the vicinity of various potential mates so the wolf is trying to force him to choose one."

Sirius clenched his fists. _**Various**__ potential mates?_

"That _hussy_." Remus could be heard growling to his wolf.

"It's not Moony's fault, Ree." Evans announced in that oddly softly female voice she only used when around Remus and Snape. "It's in its genetic makeup to search for a mate when it comes of sexual age. It's only doing what's natural for every wolf. And if you don't _want_ to be the submissive of the relationship, I think you should start looking at the girls around you and see if any of them attract you enough to mate with because that's the only way I see you being able to be alpha and _not_ beta."

Sirius' eyes widened.

_Alpha_?

He blinked.

The partner of a beta was an _alpha_?

All anger bled from his expression as he realized that. Sirius had only thought that alphas were the leaders of the pack, he hadn't realized that they also came into play with this sort of thing.

_I'm an alpha_. He blinked again, a slow smile appearing on his face. _And Remus is a beta._

Suddenly this situation was opening all _sorts_ of opportunities for him, and Sirius couldn't help but let his mind wander to the thought of Remus mewling beneath him, trembling, body slick and hot---.

"---Severus of course." Evans announced, bringing Sirius back down to earth with an abrupt jolt.

"I refuse to let Snivellus be a part of this!" Sirius growled, not liking the plan already just because it included the _other_ male.

Both Remus and Evans shot Sirius withering glares for the name he just could _not_ stop calling Snape.

"I agree with Sirius." James announced, eyes narrowed. "Back me up Wormy." Sensing the silence, James tore his glare from Evans and it turned confused when it landed on the silent youth. "_Wormtail_?"

Peter had put down his parchment and was now wringing his hands nervously. It was shocking that Peter didn't back up James immediately and thoughtlessly, the young Gryffindor near _worshipped_ James. "I, uh, I think Lily has a point, James."

Shock was visible on James' face before it darkened. "You're taking _Lily's_ side over mine, Pete?"

Peter blinked, looking slightly frightened. "It's not that! I'm not taking sides! L-L-Lily is---."

"Oh _stop bullying him_ Potter!" Evans growled in frustration. "You're such an arrogant _toerag_! Pete obviously isn't as stupidly _bias and prejudice_ as you and Black are! Pete's--."

"_**One**_ night of studying does _not_ make you two close enough friends to be calling each other by your first names _Evans_!" James interrupted, glaring at the girl angrily. He'd never liked Evans from the first moment they'd met, and the years only made it worse. "Who the bloody hell do you think you are anyway? First you take up most of Remus' time and now you're trying to get your claws into _Peter_?"

"_James_!" Remus growled, standing. "Stop it!"

"She's trying to break us up!" James accused, pointing a finger at Evans.

"Grow _up_ Potter!" Evans stood as well, palms on the table. "Not everything in this world revolves around _you_!"

Sirius just sat still and watched this all with wide eyes, not exactly sure how things had gotten to this point.

"Severus is the _best_ person to help Remus right now unless you _want_ your best friend shagging every potential mate around him!" Evans growled. "Like it or not, Severus is the _only one_ with the potion skills to make the potion we need to suppress Moony's desires until Ree can pick his own mate!"

"I don't _trust_ him!" James snapped back.

"_I_ do." Remus spoke, voice low and gravelly. "I'd hoped that'd be enough for you and Sirius." And with that he stalked away.

"Ree!" Evans called after him before giving James and Sirius a glare, grabbing a surprised Peter, and pulling him after her as she hurried behind Remus.

Sirius sighed, lowering his head. "We don't have a choice in the matter, do we Prongs?"

"And he just let her drag him away!" James growled, ignoring Sirius, glaring at the others as they left the library. "The _traitor_!"

Sirius sighed again and rested his cheek on his fist, ignoring James and his rant.

_So Remus is a beta and his wolf is looking for an alpha._

A slow smile curved his lips.

_Things are starting to look promising._

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Severus Snape had been expecting a _lot_ of things once he knew that Malfoy had told Remus about who was _really_ at fault for him having turned female. The Slytherin had imagined hexes to hate-filled words, had even envisioned the breaking off of their rela—friendship.

What he _hadn't_ expected was to be rudely woken up Saturday morning by Zabini saying that Remus, Lily and Pettigrew were outside of the dungeons waiting to see him. Honestly, he would have thought Remus would have come with Potter and Black to dose out the revenge, and that only made him _more_ nervous as he got himself presentable and hurried out to meet his friend and crush.

"Severus." Remus announced the moment Snape slipped out of the common room and found himself face to face with the Gryffindors. "Sorry to wake you up so early on a Saturday, but I need your help."

Snape blinked, unsure that he was hearing those words. "Huh?"

Lily smiled nervously, looking around. "Do you have somewhere we could all go and talk without being overheard? It's about Remus' furry little problem."

Snape's eyes went wide. While he hadn't been let in on Remus' lycantrophy in the nicest of ways, he was still now a part of the _inner_ group thanks to this knowledge, and protected the secret as strongly as Remus' other friends did. "Come with me."

Leading them to an abandoned corridor not too far from the Slytherin Commons, Snape cast a Silencing Bubble around them and looked up, worried. "What happened? Did---did that stupid potion do something to you? Ree—I'm really sor---."

Remus smiled and waved that off, placing his hand on Snape's shoulder. "Don't worry about that, Sev, I know you didn't mean to hex _me_."

Snape smiled right back, finally able to take in a deep breath of relief. Remus wasn't mad at him, he wasn't going to hex him, wasn't going to end their friendship.

Pettigrew cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Look Snape, we came here because that potion of yours made something Remus was going through even _worse_."

Snape tore his gaze from Remus and frowned at Pettigrew. "What are you talking about?"

"Well," Lily blushed. "Apparently the wolf is going into heat, and the potion made him female for a while so it just made his heat get stronger than it normally would. And he's only in the beginning stage. If he doesn't get a suppressant not only will he be secreting pheromones like _crazy_ but he'll end up shagging every potential mate around him and Remus _really_ doesn't want to compete with Black for Hogwarts Maleslut of the Year Award."

Snape was in shock. Honestly, he hadn't really heard much after _heat_. "He's in _heat_?"

Pettigrew sighed and looked away, Remus (sadly) pulled his hand away from Snape's shoulder, and Lily explained to the Slytherin all that was going on.

Finally absorbing the whole truth, Snape looked up at Remus. "You're in _heat_."

A blush covered Remus' face, making him look so much cuter than usual. "I just wish people would stop saying that."

The Slytherin ignored that. "You're in _heat_ so you need me to brew this potion Lily's talking about? The one that lets you keep control over the wolf."

Remus nodded. "I know it's a lot to ask for, and I'll help you all I can—even _if_ I am a disaster at potions."

While Snape would usually _jump_ at the opportunity to be with Remus alone, he hesitated this time. This was a serious, complicated potion, he needed someone who knew the truth about Remus' furry little problem and was decent enough in potions—he wouldn't risk something happening to Remus just because something happened to the potion while it was brewing.

Sadly, that left him with few alternatives.

Thankfully, none of them were Potter or Black.

"No, Pettigrew should do." Snape winced as he said it.

"_What_?" Pettigrew squeaked. "_Me_?"

Lily and Remus were surprised as well.

"It's not like I _like_ the thought of spending time alone with you, Pettigrew." Snape sneered. "You're just the only one who knows Remus' situation who's half _decent_ when it comes to Potions. Remus, Potter and Black are all _messes_ when it comes to that, and Lily is decent at best yet not as decent as you."

Pettigrew's eyes were wide. "I'm not decent at _anything_!"

"Pish," Snape snorted. "I work behind you in Potions Pettigrew, the reason why your potions are a mess is because you let your idol Potter tell you that your _correct_ method of doing it is wrong and _his_ is right. _You_ are going to work with me on this to help Remus and you are _not_ allowed to complain about it!"

Pettigrew looked slightly worried but nodded. "For Remus."

Snape sighed, shaking his head, hoping that this wasn't going to come back and bite him in his ass. He was about to comment on it when he sniffed something and turned to Remus. "You smell unusually good this morning."

Lily and Pettigrew both shared a look. "It's the pheromones!"

Remus winced. "It's starting up already?"

Pettigrew went in between Remus and Snape, annoying the Slytherin. "It's his pheromones, all the potential mates will be able to smell them and---." The Gryffindor suddenly went pale, looking sick.

Remus' eyes went wide.

Lily gasped.

Snape grinned, suddenly the day was looking better than ever. "Potential mate, huh?"

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**Okay, I FINALLY have the stage set for the story! Remus in heat and the various potential mates! I'm adding three more potentials but haven't exactly decided who they are yet.**

**Review?**


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